Two killed in suicide bomb at military compound in Kabul

A destroyed vehicle is pictured at the scene of a suicide attack in Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul on Nov. 21, 2012. A suicide bomber blew himself up near a NATO base in Kabul's diplomatic district on Wednesday, hitting a military vehicle and killing two people, police and a military spokesman said.

By NBC News staff and wire reports

Updated at 1:01 p.m. ET: A suicide bomber killed two Afghan guards outside a foreign-run military compound in the main diplomatic area of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Wednesday, Interior Ministry officials said, an attack that was quickly claimed by the Taliban.

"The bomber killed himself in front of the compound. Two people were killed and two more were wounded, all Afghan guards," said Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danesh.

A police official in Kabul told NBC News that the attacker was on foot when he came to the neighborhood in Kabul, where there's a heavy concentration of foreign and NGO offices.

According to the official, the man was recognized by the security guards. They opened fire on him as the suicide attacker threw the grenades at the guards and then detonated himself.

There was a second suicide attacker, but he was killed by guards before he could detonate his grenade.

Dozens of police swarmed to the area, where shattered glass from cars lay on the ground, and cordoned it off.

It was not immediately clear which foreign forces run the compound, although Afghan security officials said it is U.S.-run. A spokeswoman at the U.S. embassy in Kabul said its security team was investigating the blast.

The Taliban took responsibility for the attack, which happened at 8.20 a.m. local time, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Embassy sirens sounded and ambulances could be heard after the blast, which happened in the area where the U.S. and British embassies and the headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force are located.

A spokesman for ISAF said the coalition was aware of an explosion and that one of its vehicles had been damaged.